Book 17 Chapter 10

Dream

- The Man, The Woman

"Why did you save me?"

The woman asks.

"……"

The man says nothing.

"It would have been better to just let me die, wouldn't it?"

The woman sneers.

"I am under no obligation to answer."

The man does not reply.

"I must hear it!"

The woman shouts, staring at the one who is looking away, their eyes burning with flames of hatred.

"Kill me instead! It's better to die than to suffer humiliation while alive!"

The man does not listen.

"I don't think there's any need to rush fate."

The woman shouts again.

"Kill me! Otherwise, you'll regret it! Because I will kill you!"

The man permits it.

"If that… if that is possible, you may try it anytime. I will wait."

As soon as the man finished speaking, he turned his back. His steps stopped. His back was empty, riddled with holes, and hollow. The woman's sword, held in her pale hand, trembled.

*Swoosh!*

Thrusting her sword into the ground, the woman wailed.

"Please kill me! Just kill me! How much more do you need to make me miserable to be satisfied?!"

Hot tears fell to the ground along with regret. It would have been better if it were just a dream. The wounds that had just begun to heal tore open like a chasm in the earth split by an earthquake.

"Is that truly your wish?"

The man asks in a slightly sad voice. Biting her lips stubbornly, the woman nodded. There was no lower ground to fall to. Could there be any greater tragedy or despair?

"You won't regret it?"

"What more can I possibly regret?"

Her will, filled with hatred and sorrow, was as hard as steel.

The man lets out a deep sigh, a lament escaping him.

"It seems your heart has already passed a point of no return. Very well. If that is your wish…"

The man pauses for a moment before continuing.

"I will grant that wish."

This was not what the man desired. However, as the woman said, it was too late to turn back. If left as is, the possibility of her committing suicide was higher. In that case, it would be better…

"From this day forward, the existence of Dokanbong Dokkoryeong shall disappear from this world, forever!"

The man declares in a sorrowful voice. The man's touch, gentle yet cold, reaches the woman's neck.

"Farewell…"

The man quietly bids farewell. The rest of his words are too soft to be heard.

Only then does the woman's heart find peace. Death is not frightening. Life emerges from death, just as movement comes from stillness and yang from yin. It is an inevitable return to the origin from which she came.

It should have been done long ago. The woman thinks. She is merely finishing what should have been concluded nine years ago. The past nine years were merely an extended life.

'I'm sorry, Yerim. I can no longer protect you!'

The woman agonizes with regret. Her eyes close.

'Master…'

The face of the Sword Empress, sometimes strict, sometimes affectionate, surfaces for the last time above the darkness behind her closed eyes. Two streams of tears flow down the woman's cheeks.

And then,

Darkness descends.